Iraq on the Record

Iraq on the Record is a report and associated online database presenting the results of an investigation of the misleading statements, falsehoods, and outright lies presented to the American public during the runup to the Iraq war, as comissioned by Representative Henry A. Waxman.

The Iraq on the Record Report, prepared at the request of Rep. Henry A. Waxman, is a comprehensive examination of the statements made by the five Administration officials most responsible for providing public information and shaping public opinion on Iraq: President George W. Bush, Vice President Richard Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell, and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice.

[The] database identifies 237 specific misleading statements about the threat posed by Iraq made by these five officials in 125 public appearances in the time leading up to and after the commencement of hostilities in Iraq.

Check out the report: Iraq on the Record.

[via eclecticism]

Force won’t beat terrorism

The European Commission president, Romani Prodi, has said a war on terror that uses force rather than thought is no answer to resolving conflicts.

“It is clear that using force is not the answer to resolving the conflict with terrorists,” Prodi was quoted as saying in the daily La Stampa.

“We must remember that it has been a year since the war in Iraq started. Terrorism is infinitely more powerful than a year ago.”

At last someone’s thinking right and facing the reality that use of force will only bring more force and terror.

2004 Bloggie Awards Results

Well, the results for the 2004 Bloggie Awards are out.

And, the big question is: did Subzero Blue win the award for Best African or Middle Eastern Blog or not ?

Did I ? or didn’t I ?

Well, you should ask yourselves that you bunch of non-voting readers, lol…

Yeah, I didn’t win it this time. Where is Raed ? did, as I expected.
Anyway, it feels great to have been nominated and to have passed to the finalist stage.

Hopefully next year I’ll run for more awards and maybe even win. who knows ?
It all depends on if you guys actually feel guilty and vote for me or not 😛

Congratulations to all the winners. Most of you deserved it 😛

For the full list of winners, go to: 2004 Bloggie Awards.

Finding Sedna, the 10th Planet

Scientists may have discovered the solar system’s 10th planet, more than 3 billion kilometers farther away from the sun than Pluto.

The object — about 10 billion kilometers from Earth — has been given the provisional name of Sedna after the Inuit goddess of the sea.

Sedna was found using the recently launched high power Spitzer Space Telescope.

Initial details indicated Sedna to be made of ice and rock and to be of a smaller size than Pluto, with a diameter of almost 2,000 km.

NASA is set to make an official announcement later Monday.

[via CNN]

Spanish Troops out of Iraq

According to a spokesman for the winning Spanish socialist party, Zapatero (the prime minister elect) will take Spanish troops out of Iraq on June 30 — the day the Coalition Provisional Authority is scheduled to turn over power to an interim Iraqi government.

The PM-elect has said: Spanish troops should never have been in Iraq, because there was no U.N. resolution authorizing military action.

He also told a Spanish radio station that no decision would be taken until he was in power and without wide political consultation.
“But the Spanish troops in Iraq will come home,” he added.

Outgoing prime minister Jose Maria Aznar was a key European ally of the Bush administration, taking his country to war even though polls showed 90% of the Spanish people were against it.

Evil Overlord To-do List

Just found a very funny list of The Top 100 Things I’d Do If I Ever Became An Evil Overlord.

My favourites are:

2. My ventilation ducts will be too small to crawl through.

3. My noble half-brother whose throne I usurped will be killed, not kept anonymously imprisoned in a forgotten cell of my dungeon.

9. I will not include a self-destruct mechanism unless absolutely necessary. If it is necessary, it will not be a large red button labelled “Danger: Do Not Push”. The big red button marked “Do Not Push” will instead trigger a spray of bullets on anyone stupid enough to disregard it. Similarly, the ON/OFF switch will not clearly be labelled as such.

35. I will not grow a goatee. In the old days they made you look diabolic. Now they just make you look like a disaffected member of Generation X.

45. I will make sure I have a clear understanding of who is responsible for what in my organization. For example, if my general screws up I will not draw my weapon, point it at him, say “And here is the price for failure,” then suddenly turn and kill some random underling.

50. My main computers will have their own special operating system that will be completely incompatible with standard IBM and Macintosh powerbooks.

81. If I am fighting with the hero atop a moving platform, have disarmed him, and am about to finish him off and he glances behind me and drops flat, I too will drop flat instead of quizzically turning around to find out what he saw.

100. Finally, to keep my subjects permanently locked in a mindless trance, I will provide each of them with free unlimited Internet access.

[via i never knew]

Spain’s New Government

So, in a strong reply to the government’s lies and deception, the people of Spain have gone out and voted against the ruling party, kicking them out of rule.

The people of Spain have chosen change and have put an end to a government that blindly lead the country into a war of lies.

The socialist party won the elections and the Prime Minister elect Jose-Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has vowed to make the defeat of terrorism his immediate priority.

Well, that phrase has become quite a scary one lately which often means more use of power and more wars. So I hope it’s different this time and that this government is more rational and smarter than the previous one, and that it will understand that the only way to fight terrorism is by eliminating it’s reason to exist.